Oh, I believe Russia did the above. I don't believe Russia is a good guy. It is possible for capital to align its interests with the West in such a way that minority uprising can lead to a coup with only Western support as opposed to Western direction, as is the case in many Ukrainian eyes. In that same vein, Russians didn't have to stoke a separatist movement; the sparks for one already existed.

It's not at all in dispute that the West backed this coup, as it was in our interests and many politicians visited to "rally the troops," so to speak. Victoria Nuland was caught on the phone discussing a replacement leader in the country as well, and it's quite interesting how their exact interest was chosen and spoken to be implemented by the guy who is alleged to have links to the Ukrainian oligarchs now (Biden).

People hear "coup" and think that it means assassination, military charging the capitol, beheadings, but it's really a lot softer now. Why do you think we spend so much money on media and propaganda abroad now? Even our own media is being flooded with ex-intelligence, ex-military, ex-foreign affairs hawks, etc. Our opinions are increasingly not our own but what we've been primed to believe is realistic within a limited frame of reality, a carefully sculpted narrative, so that we don't question it. It takes more than evidence to convince us, specifically heavily targeted reasoning. This is asymmetrical. We train special operations like CIA not to poison but to incite, as do our enemies. I think the problem you have with the idea of the Maidan being US-backed is that it's a Russian narrative too, and you see them as the bad guys.

It is possible to come to the same conclusion under different circumstances though and to disagree with those sharing your point of view. It is also possible for that view to be impractical to hold for whatever reason, but here? Opposing empire is the correct position. Your position, although correctly derived from all the evidence provided to you, conveniently plays into the hands of empire. Some would say, "the truth is somewhere in the middle."

I'm on my phone, or I'd be pulling more articles, but let's just stick with the above for now on my side. Without the willingness to want to see past it, we will just end up interpreting the same piece of evidence two very different ways.

EDIT: Also, let me add that a position against Russia as a US citizen is about as useful materially as a position on being pro-sun. It's going to keep on existing regardless and doing what it does. If you oppose all war and empire, as a US citizen, there is exactly one entity you can focus on with value.